


Vanguard Company: Last Fight

by Warden935



Category: Galaxy's Edge - Jason Anspach & Nick Cole
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:48:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24211627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warden935/pseuds/Warden935
Summary: To those who find this Read Galaxy's Edge. By Jason Anspach and Nick Cole. To the members of Vanguard Company, Per Sanguinem et Ferrum in Vangards Martii





	1. Armor Up

Seven members of Kill Team Phoenix sat in the meeting room looking at the message that Major Alec Owens left. While only the kill team members got the same message, it still felt as if he was in the room giving them the message: Article 19 was to be carried out. Some grinned while others saluted. For the leader of the kill team it was time to call in a few favors and free his company of the tactical coffins they called armor.  
The team leader gathered his team together. Around a holo-table stood Warden, the team leader, Ghostryder, a highly skilled infiltrator, Bookworm, the best sniper in the squad, Gear on heavy weapons, Justice ready to blow some sket up, Jack the hacker and Crio ready to crack some skulls.  
Warden told them one of his secrets. “Ever since those House kelhorns put Vanguard Company in that shiny garbage I -----”  
Bookworm spoke up at the mention of the armor “You don’t know the half of it Cap.”  
Warden continued, “That's why for six tears, ever since they put that junk into service, I've been keeping tabs on the mk100 suits of armor. Turns out a few House bastards decided turning them into molten slag wasn't good for profit returns, so they have been selling everything but the buckets to any who are willing to drop top credit for each set of armor.”  
Warden started counting on his fingers,”Private militias, military contractors, security agencies, hell even pirates have been seen with legion issued kit. I wanted to take this to the top but the hoops I had to jump through in order to keep my investigation hidden was a back breaking procedure. However, with Article 19 now in effect, well now I just dont give a damn.”  
As Warden spoke he pulled up images and each piece of intercepted data to be analyzed before continuing. Once it was all read he let the reality sink in, then allowed the anger and the questions to come flying at him.  
“THOSE WHORES IN THE HOUSE ARE GONNA PAY!” Crio yelled.  
“We’re gonna get the armor back, right Cap?” Bookworm questioned.  
As more questions flew at him Warden had to quiet the men down to show them what was next for this meeting.  
“The plan is to infiltrate this base, capture or KTF any and all combatants, radio in for a loyal legion destroyer to secure the planet, and make our way to this storage facility.” Warden pointed to a wearhouse that had ‘81’ painted on the side. “This houses the armor and weapons of the 81st Legion… Vanguard Company. We’re going to bring that gear to them.”  
“I only have a few questions sir.” All heads turned to Justice.  
“Which destroyer, when are we doing this, and how many det bricks do I need?”  
Warden grinned, “Should take us two days of travel, the destroyer will be the Zumwalt; it patrols the system that the facility is held in. The next contender is we will be stowing away on a freighter that is picking up some goods from the planet. Another kill team wants this to go down as well so they will smuggle us in so we can infiltrate the facility and take out most of the defenses, which consists of over 130 basics plus 20 points. As for that last bit of info, all that you can carry.”  
Warden finished the briefing. His team only nodded knowing that they will not only succeed, but they will make them pay for knowingly storing equipment of the galaxy’s protectors to sell it to those who would harm their legion brothers.  
The kill team Phoenix sat in a cargo bay for two days just going over the plan over and over again. Then a chime sounded in the cargo bay. “Five minutes to the target location, those kelhorns want us to land in a field six kilomitors away. That should give you guys time to slip in and take all the fun.” The pilot of the vessel was the leader of Kill Team Tharizdun.  
“Copy. Alright buckets on, the mission clock is 15 minutes local system time, we hit each of our objectives in our respective teams.”  
Warden pointed at each member of the team, “Ghostryder, you're on your own. Make your way to the guard house to take out any who might set off an alarm. Crio and I are going to capture the officers and “deal with them.” Bookworm and Justice, secure their armory. Finally Gear and Jack, you two will take out long range comms and radio the Zumwalt to come and take over this facility. Understood?”  
All six heads nodded, “Alright let's do this.”  
As the shuttle landed the seven man kill team quickly disembarked into the humid air and tall grass. As soon as boots hit the ground a clock appeared in the top left hand side of their buckets’ HUDs. 15:00, 14:59, 14:58. The members of Kill Team Phoenix sprinted to the boundary marking Republic grounds and the forest beyond. The clock read 13:30. The base was a lax due to it being isolated and only key members of the House and Republic army knew its location. The perimeter had large guard towers and one man teams making shift rotations every 15 minutes.  
The first member to start his assent of the fence ahead of them was Ghostryder. Sometimes referred to as Ryder, he quickly scaled the fence. Then, like a blaster bolt, he ran to the main guard house, avoiding portals and on occasion he knocked out a few guards on his way to the main guard house. This was the center to alter the base if anything was to occur, screwing a blaster suppressor onto his pistol and drawing his vibro-knife, Ryder stepped in.  
The first thing he heard was some grizzled sergeant talking about how “Them Legion boys ain’t really traitors, theys just mad at the House for treating them terribly.” Ryder smiled to himself remarking “This guy's Standard is worse than Warden's typing.”  
Looking around the corner again Ghostryder saw seven hostiles. Two Positioned near the alarm button and the sergeant with four others in some kind of break room sipping caf and playing cards. Then Ryder saw the sergeant grinning as if he…  
“What’s up sarge?”  
“Look if your hand is that good I don’t----”  
“ZIP IT! Look boy, the two out near the button don't want to hear about the Legion because they don’t like them Legion types so I’m just gonna shut the door and we can have a nice private game. You feel me?” The basic just stared into the darkness, looking at the ghost within and true to his word the man stood up and shut the door.  
Ghostryder didn't hesitate for another moment. He shot the two basics guarding the alert button, his weapon only making a dull hissing noise as each hot sizzling bolt impacted the bassics. Ryder went to the break room door trying to decide what to do with the Rep-army soldiers on the other side when he heard a loud scuffle on the other side. Ghostryder opened the door to see the same sergeant choking out the last basic in the room. “Well I’ll be damned I was right, calm down there leej I’m on your side”  
The sergeant saluted, “Sergeant Taylor Reynolds of the Republic army at your service legionnaire, I can tell when you Dark Ops types are in the room, knew me a leej who told me what to look for and I have been paranoid ever since.”  
After his story Ghostryder called Warden through the L-Com, “What should I do?”  
Warden sighed, “Well if he is willing to let you KTF two bascis and take down four more enemy combatants, then I say he's good. Besides, he might prove as a good cover if any come snooping. Good work leej, all objs are almost secured. Await my signal to move on to the final objective.”  
“Yes sir.” He turned to the basic, “Well Sergeant, care to help me get these guys bound and gagged? Afterwards I need you to turn any prying eyes away until the rest of my team can secure this facility.”  
“Well I'm always happy to help you Legion boys, also killing those two is less trouble than keeping them alive.” Reynolds stated although a slight tone in his voice told Ghostryder the sergeant didn't like seeing young kids get killed even if they were a pain in the ass. 

The next team over the top was Gear and Jack. While not able to bring his N-60 but having to settle for the NK-4, a shorter variant of the N-4 but still packing the same punch, it would do for what he and Jack were doing. Moving from cover to cover they reached the relay building. The structure housed a communication uplink station, capable of sending long range transmissions to any ship in the system. Capturing this station top on the list. As Jack and Gear approached the main door, Gear got out the slic-tape, a hacking tool used to break into any facility in the galaxy. With the control panel the only thing they had to do was wait for it to finish its cycle. After a few moments the door swished open, checking their corners Jack and Gear cleared the first floor of the facility. “Really no patrols, no censors, nothing. What the hell?” Jack remarked, frustrated at not being able to intimidate basics.  
“Probably on the second level, let's go.” Gear motioned at the stairs.  
As they ascended, a muffled announcer could be heard along with eager chants from a crowd. As the two dark ops leejs reached the final landing the voice could be heard clearly. “Are they watching the game right now?” Jack eagerly said.  
“Oh that's right the big seenball tournament is tonight.” Gear half heartedly said with interest but with the need to focus on the task at hand.  
“What's the play?”  
“Bangers are a no go.”  
As Gear racked his brain trying to get in the room without the potential of alerting the whole base, Jack decided to do his thing: shouting. “Knock, knock you basic kelhorns!” His boot impacted the door and it swung open. He rushed in the room yelling at each basic to get on the ground face down.  
Gear was stunned for a nano second before clearing the rest of the room. No other Rep army soldier was in the small room. After enerchaining the troopers together, Gear marked their objective as secured.  
After Jack and Gear went over the top, up next was Warden and Crio tasked with taking out any appointed officers. Luckily for them, all points were currently attending their sensitivity seminar in the mess hall.  
Making their way to the mess hall, they could hear the snarky voices and laughter. Ghostryder was already reporting in about some sergeant looking at him, a few moments later the sergeant was helping the kill team. Jack was yelling at a group of basics while Gear was shouting questions left and right. Bookworm and Justice had just reported that the charges were ready to blow. As soon as this confirmation was given the slow movement of the two man team was given up. Warden keyed in the L-Com to Gear, “Call in the Zumwalt.”  
Then he sent a message to Justice “Do it then meet us as the mess.”  
The final group over the top was Justice and Bookworm. The two just like the team before made their way to the objective, the Republic armory, dodging patrols and knocking out those who needed it. Once at the door, subtlety was thrown out the door. Literally. Only four basics were in charge of the armory and when confronted by the enigmas that were black armored legionnaires ready to KTF, the Rep soldiers were apprehended with little fanfare and fewer words. As soon as the troopers were enterchained, Justice and Bookworm went through the process of placing charges on every piece of ordinance that would and could explode: charge packs, fragers, nothing was spared. Once they dragged the basics to a safe location, Justice radioed Warden, “Areas ready to blow, we’re clear.”  
Warden's reply was instant, “Do it then meet us at the mess.”  
With a press of a button, a massive fireball lit up the night sky, then a message was sent out through the entire base coming from the main guard station.  
“This Sergeant Reynolds of the Republic army, do not resist what is about to happen next boys, the Legion is here to take over this facility. You may ask why? And why is that old koot Reynolds is letting this happen? Well I am done with the so called officers that are running the army, the marines, and the Legion. They are here only to advance their careers and get us killed in the process. They ain’t heros, they are monsters almost worse than the Savages, they only care about how many of us they can kill and get the job done. WELL I'M SO OBA DAMNED TIRED OF THIS BULLSHIT, I SEEN KIDS JUST DIE IN WARS THAT NO ONE WILL REMEMBER!”  
The Sergeants voice went from anger to the pain that he bottled up. “I was on so many battlefields just to see replacements die left and right. I love the Repub but they are just killing us without remorse, the only thing that has remained constant was the Legion. They pulled my ass out more times than I can count, and the points have kept killing them in return.”  
Then his rage picked up once more. “Well no more. We are done with the appointed officers. We are done. Kill team boys, I relinquish command of this base to your commanding officer. I was told that in the most dire of circumstances I could say it, so here's me cashing my ticket in. KTF those Oba damn points, MAKE THEM PAY!”  
Bookworm and Justice ran faster than they ever did before those words hit home. As they reached the rest of the assembled kill team, their blaster grips were gripped so tight that they might just shatter from the sheer pressure put on them. Once the seven man team was assembled, Warden kicked open the door and all seven men swarmed in, shouting and grabbing some of the scared points that wouldn't get on the ground. A few that showed “bravery” were bashed in the face with NK-4 stocks. One appointed officer made the worst mistake of his life and attempted to reach for his pistol. He was turned into a fine red mist with multiple full auto NK-4s before he hit the ground.  
Once all the traitors were captured the kill team was able to see the Zumwalt jump in system and start disgorging Legion dropships.  
Warden signaled for his team to move to the storage facilities. Once they reached the building marked 81, Gear used the splice tape to get through the door. Once inside, the site was breathtaking. So many creates, each wall its own section of armor, gauntlets, boots/ leg armor, chest plates, and helmets. Warden wandered over to the chest plates, cracking one open. Five plates were stacked on top of each other. He pulled one out and it was a green chest plate, confused because of the color. In the crate there was another but this one had a white bear claw. Inside his bucket Warden smiled he knew this was Grizzly’s, a good friend. Bookworm wandered over and pointed at the green plate, “That's a guy named Crimson, he joined during a jungle op right before we got that sket the House gave us. Did you know there are five guys from Grizzlys home world in Vanguard now? Two of which are his brothers and the other two are just family friends. What are the odds?”  
Gently placing the chest plates into the crate, they started to carry each to a nearby landing pad awaiting their ride. Already they could see the Tharizdun kill team carrying out their own crates and staking them near another landing pad. Wardens L-Com pinged, “Captain Wright, this is Major Fisher, what is your current location?”  
“On the north-east landing pad, sir.” Warden said.  
Then there was a sight that made the Captain smile and take off his bucket. A legionnaire wearing the slate grey of the mk100 armor came jogging up to him, right behind the Major to him was a basic sergeant.  
“Captain.” The Major extended his hand.  
“Major.” Warden took the offered hand.  
“I’ll be damned, it feels amazing to wear the old grey once more to get my Majors insignia on, but I appreciate the call Captain.” The Major sounded ecstatic.  
“This is Sarg -sorry- Lieutenant Reynolds, your man Ghostryder informed me of what he did and we could hear his message through our landing shuttles. Keller is calling the Legion for some big showdown, however we have a job to do in this system.”  
“Alright, your transport is coming soon. A decent freighter that we captured a few days ago. Luckily we didn't scrap it. Once again Captain Wright, thank you. Oh and nice N-5”  
Fisher’s last comment was at his blaster with the grenade launcher attached, surprisingly he didn't see the slug thrower.  
Warden put out his hand and the Major shook it once again. After five minutes of chit chat with his team and other leejs who had come to see the kill team, a shuttle arrived and it's pilots disembarked and helped load the crate containing the armor of the 81st legion. It took a couple of weeks to reach the Gregorian system. Once in the system they managed to lock on to the Endeavors signal.  
“Endeavor, this is DO-224 James “Bookworm” Thorn, requesting permission to land.” they waited, but no response.  
“Should I just land?”  
“I would just land.” Jack commented  
“Go ahead.” Warden said.  
When they entered the landing bay klaxons were screaming in all directions, something about a jail break. When their shuttle landed a squad was rushing past with riot shields, one of them stopped and looked at the kill team.  
“Well I’ll be damned. Captain Wright, it's good to see you”  
“Grizzly! you're a sight for sore eyes. What the hell is going on?” Warden inquired.  
“Gates lost his sket. Come on we got to go down to the detention block!.” Grizzly said with urgency.  
“Bookworm, stay with the ship.” Warden ordered  
With that, the squad and a six man kill team of legionnaires entered one of Endeavors speed lifts, racing to aid their brothers down below.


	2. Traitors of the Republic

**Legion Destroyer ‘Endeavor’ - Gregorian System**

Templar got off his shuttle and entered the hangar bay of The Endeavor to attend the debriefing. Vanguard Company had just taken down some pirate king named Raaq Shaw who was now in a holding cell with his goons. 

Then, a transmission came into his HUD. It was showing in everyone’s HUD. 

Every Legionnaire in the hangar bay paused to see the incoming transmission. It was a broadcast to the entire Republic… and it was from Legion Commander Keller. This must be important. 

The image of the Legion Commander appeared on his display. “The Legion enacts Article 19 of the Republic Constitution. All House of Reason delegates and senators are to be arrested and tried for treason. All those who resist will be stopped…” 

With the transmission’s ending, every Legionnaire looked towards Major Gates, who slowly began to take a few steps backwards towards the nearest door. In unison, they all raised their N-4s to point at him. “Woah woah woah,” he said. “Let’s not get too hasty. I’m still your commanding officer.” 

Templar had his sword drawn, pacing from left to right like a predator that had entrapped it’s prey, ready to pounce. “Major Gates,” he began as he raised his sword in his right hand, “under Article 19, you are relieved of duty. Surrender peacefully and you will be tried for treason against The Republic.” 

Gates paused, looking around at all the rifles pointed at him. He peered behind him. It was only about 20 feet to the door. He quickly turned to make a break for it, until he felt a searing pain in his left knee. As he hit the floor, he turned to see Templar with his sidearm in his left hand, barrel smoking. 

Spectre started to step towards Gates, N-4 in hand. As he got close enough, he raised it up to hit Gates in the head with the butt of his rifle. The shock of the hit sent his bucket flying. Gates raised his arms to block the blows, but Spectre threw his foot down into his stomach, causing him to recoil his arms so that Spectre could bash him in the face. 

Before he could make contact with Gates’ face, Templar grabbed Spectre’s arm. “What the bloody hell are you doing? He deserves to suffer for what him and all the other points did to the Legion!” Spectre hissed at Templar. 

“He will be court martialed and tried for treason. We are not savages.” Said Templar calmly. 

“Like sket he is!” began Spectre, “I have had enough of these kelhorned points and it’s time to put them down like the dogs they are!” There were a couple of OOAHs from the crowd of leejes. 

“Maybe so.” Said Templar, “But he first must be tried. If we murder everyone without proper reason, we become no better than them.” He dragged Spectre off of Gates as he motioned for others to grab and enerchain Gates. A pair of leejes from Decimate Squad moves forward to grab Gates. “Take Gates to the detention level, Decimate Squad. The rest of you, go get the rest of the points in the ship. If any resist, KTF.” The Legionnaires of Vanguard Company began moving for the doors of the hangar, ready to sweep the entire ship. 

———————————————————————— 

Templar and first platoon had chased down a point with a small contingent of ‘loyalist’ hull busters to the detention level. They were giving up ground very generously to the storming Legionnaires. “This is treason!” Said the point, “You will all be shot for this!” 

“Yo! Warden is finally back!” Shouted Grizzly over LCOM. Templar looked back to see Kill Team Phoenix escorted by a squad of legionnaires with riot shields headed by a familiar Dark Ops leej with blue steeples on his helmet. 

“Nice to see you, sir.” Said Templar while ducking from incoming blaster fire. 

“You still calling me sir, Templar?” Laughed Warden as he blasted hullbusters, “We’re both the same rank now.” 

Templar grabbed a riot shield from a fallen leej who peeked his head out and was unlucky. “KTF, Captain.” 

“KTF indeed, old friend.” Responded Warden. 

As the column of shielded leejes moves forward, the point made a very rash decision. He smashed the unlock button on one of the cells and told his men to do the same with the rest of the cells. “NOT GOOD!” Shouted Templar. 

“What is it? We can handle a few Pirates you got cooped up in here.” Said Warden. 

“Fall back!” Shouted Templar over LCOM as 3 monstrous cyclax’s emerged from the cells flanked by dozens of drusics. 

“Oh sket.” Said Warden as his kill team bolted back to the entrance. “Gear! Lay down covering fire!” He said as they fell back. 

“With pleasure,Cap.” Said Gear cheerfully as he primed his SAB for firing. 

On the other side of the corridor, the point’s face was horrified when he realized he opened up the wrong cells. One of the cyclax’s started tearing his men to shreds as the point ran away. 

“Sket! He’s getting away!” Shouted Grizzly. 

The Legionnaires filled the hallway with red blaster fire, forcing the drusics to take cover in their opened cells after grabbing the N-6s taken from the fallen hull busters. But the cycalxs just stood there, bolts bouncing off their metallic, armor-like skin. 

As the legionnaires retreated back to the detention entrance, they closed the blast doors behind them. “Well this is going to be a problem.” Said Warden. 

“Yea, you think?” Said Spectre. 

“Spectre, you never change, do you?” Laughed Warden. “Anyways,” he began, looking to Templar, “we’ve got a present for you guys.” 

“A present?” Said Epsilon excitedly. “Is it a puppy?” 

“We better get back to the hangar.” Said Warden with a smirk under his bucket. 

———————————————————————— 

As they entered the hangar, Templar saw Bookworm sitting on a pile of crates. “Long time, Bookworm.” Said Templar, jogging up to the Dark Ops leej. “What do you got for me?” 

“Take a look.” Said Bookworm, revealing the contents of the crates. 

“You found them?” Said Templar, shocked. “No way.” 

“Well,” said Bookworm, “we couldn’t find all of it, but there were still a few sets of the originals lying around.” 

Temple raised up his old mk100 armor which still had the Red Cross painted on it. 

“We thought you guys might need some more protection with this war coming.” Said Warden, putting a hand on Templar’s shoulder. 

As the leejes of Vanguard Company started grabbing their old armor, Templar began. “Suit up, leejes. We’ve got some points to hunt.” 

———————————————————————— 

Templar led a group to take hold of the control room. That would allow them to monitor the entire ship and see where the points were hiding, but also tell them where the pirates were wrecking the most havoc. When they got to the door, it was locked. “Open up!” He shouted as he banged on the door. 

“No way!” He heard a voice coming from inside the room. “You are traitors to the House of Reason and the Republic!” 

“Place a det charge.” Said Templar, walking away from the door, not having time to deal with this. 

“Wait what did you say?” Came the voice from inside. Templar could hear voices and shuffling coming from inside. 

“CLEAR!” Shouted a leej as he detonated the charge, blowing the locks on the door and causing it to woosh open. 

After the leejes stormed the room, they saw a group of about 10 naval personnel restraining an officer. “Thank you, Captain.” The thanks came from the captain of the Endeavor. “This point lieutenant pulled a pistol he had on us and held us at gunpoint. Your breach charge distracted him enough to allow us to seize him.” 

“No problem.” Said Templar, moving to the monitors. “Have you seen where the pirates have moved?” 

“Yes, they split up into 3 groups.” Responded the Captain is the ship. “Each group has a cyclax and are believed to be moving to take out key functions of the destroyer to force us to crash into the nearby planet of Concophia, allowing them to escape into the wild.” 

“Well they didn’t think this plan through very well.” Said Templar, tracking one of the pirate groups. “Spectre, move your group to intercept a pirate contingent moving towards the reactor, they have one of the cyclax’s with them.” He said into his LCOM before continuing. “If this ship goes down, we are too far up in the atmosphere to survive the impact.” 

———————————————————————— 

“Copy, Templar.” Said Spectre as he motioned for his platoon to take the left corridor to intercept the group of galactic thugs. They got to the cross section the pirates would need to take before the enemy, so they set up a kill zone. Spectre got a few N-50s set up pointing down the hall and had everyone ready in a closer cross section with fragger and ear poppers. 

When the pirates came up, Spectre shouted “Poppers out!” After the ear poppers went off, Spectre said “Fraggers out!” And the other leejes tossed in their grenades. After they went off, the N-50s opened up, painting the hallway a savage red as drusics were torn to shreds, leaving little of the drusics left that wasn’t disintegrated. The cyclax, however, was still standing, but it was dripping blood. 

It roared as it charged Epsilon. It’s mouth ajar, it prepared to swallow Epsilon whole. Before it could, however, Epsilon shoved his N-4 between it’s mighty jaws. It reeled back for a few seconds before crushing the blaster with its teeth. “Well, sket.” Said Epsilon as the cyclax chomped at him again, this time getting his entire arm as he tried jumping away. 

“Get me a blaster, damn it!” He shouted as it started to crush his armor with his arm still inside. A private tossed him his N-4 and Epsilon used all his strength to wrench the thing’s massive jaws open by turning his arm. With his forearm now vertical, he could feel his bones breaking as the jaws started to come down once more. He shoved the barrel of the N-4 down its throat and said “Chew on this.” As he released the full magazine on full auto and full power directly into its esophagus. 

It reeled back, the bolts tearing out through the back of it’s meaty neck as it hit the floor, dead. 

“Chew on this? Really? That’s pretty cheesy, Eps.” Said Spectre. 

“Oh shut up and get me a medic.” Said Epsilon as he grasped his broken arm. 

———————————————————————— 

“Warden, a cyclax is moving towards Engine 1, cut him off here.” Said Templar, sending a point on the map to his HUD.” 

“Give me one second.” Said Warden as his team sprinted down the hallway through blue blaster fire to get to the entrenched points. The fire was intense but they had no time and their armor should stand up to it. 

When he got to the end of the hallway, Warden leaped over the barricades set up by the points and sent his armored knee straight into the jaw of the foremost point, sending him crashing to the ground while he clutched his jaw. The rest of the points quickly surrendered once they realized they had no hope. 

“Moving to intercept.” Said Warden into his LCOM as Kill Team Phoenix moved on, leaving the points enerchained to the wall. 

When the team turned down a corridor, the saw the pirate group enter on the other side of the corridor through a blast door. Both groups locked eyes for a moment before the cyclax started charging towards them. 

Instantly, blaster fire erupted in the hallway. The blue of the stolen N-6s and the red of the N-4s fought for domination of the hall to illuminate the hulking cyclax charging Warden and the kill team as if it were a bull and the team were wearing all red. 

While the majority of Kill Team Phoenix was soaking up the blaster fire, Ghostryder moved in the air ducts above, undetected. He was Kill Team Phoenix’s stealth specialist, and was about to take out the drusics before they knew what hit them. 

When he dropped a fragger into the midst of them, a smart drusic quickly kicked it away and reached up with his gorilla-like arms to bring down the air ducts. As he tore a section out of the ceiling, Ghostryder fell out and was immediately surrounded. 

Not having enough room to bring up his NK-4, he brought up his two blaster pistols and unloaded them while still on his back. Putting down enough drusics to give him an exit, he shoots a grappling cord up the ceiling and rises up. While the drusics were trying to grab him, they failed to notice the charge he left on the ground as they all went up in a ball of fire and shrapnel. 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the of the corridor, Warden and the rest of Kill Team Phoenix are having a hard time dealing with the cyclax. The monstrosity already ate one of them, and the team didn’t know how to pierce it’s harder-than-durasteel plating. 

Unfortunately, Warden wasn’t able to dodge out of the way in time and the cyclax grabbed him with its great jaws of death. He held his arms out to keep the thing from biting down on his upper body that was stuck in its mouth. He stuck one hand out of the mouth and motioned for someone to hand him something. When a team member placed a det-brick in his hand, he brought it back into the mouth and slammed it against the back of the thing’s throat. 

“Get me out of here!” He shouted as someone hopped on top of the cyclax and grabbed his upper jaw in a bear hug to lift it up. When the teeth lifted off of Warden’s armor, the other pulled on his legs until he came free. The leej on top of the cyclax jumped off as a joke was blasted in the back of its neck. 

“This is Warden.” He said into his LCOM, “Second cyclax is down.” He puffed as he flopped onto the floor, his ribs crushed. “Can we get a medic down here?” 

———————————————————————— 

“Sket.” Said Templar, looking at his monitors. “Everyone else is busy with drusics or points, and the last cyclax is moving quickly towards Engine 2.” He looked to Grizzly. “You wanna go hunt down a cyclax?” 

“With pleasure.” Said Grizzly, priming his SAB. 

The two of them moved towards Engine 2 with a platoon of Legionnaires, minus one squad left to protect the bridge. The drusics and cyclax were positioned to get there first, so they had to book it. 

When they were running down the last corridor, they saw some drusics pop out and start firing. They had found a couple SABs, not good. Most of the hits glanced off the reliable mk100 armor but a few found their mark in the synthprene between the plating. 

Templar motioned for the riot Legionnaires to bring up their shields as he brought up his own shield. With a riot shield in his left hand and his sword drawn in the right, he looked like some medieval knight from ancient earth misplaced in a modern day battle. 

As the column of shielded legionnaires moved forward, the drusic began to break off. The ones that ran from the cover were quickly gunned down by the leejes in the back with N-4s. When they made it to the end of the hall, they slaughtered what was left of the defenders and continued into the interior of Engine 2. 

Once inside, they fell under fire from a barrage of brilliant blue fire. The front line of shields was pushed back a foot or two from the impact of the shots almost as if some magical force had swept them back, but Templar and the Vanguard pushed forward. 

The riot leejes made a slow push into the interior, forming a growing semi-circle around the door to allow more legionnaires to come through. “This is going to be a challenge.” Said Templar, widening his stance to not be knocked over by the bolts hitting his shield. “We can’t use explosives in here or else the engine might blow.” 

Grizzly took bursts with his SAB where he could, trying to avoid the thickest of the incoming fire. Slowly, but surely, the Vanguard shields pushed more and more into the room with N-4s firing behind them, forcing the drusics to give up ground. The drusics tried to run, but other platoons had finished up their fights and were pushing in from the other doors, trapping the pirates inside. 

The cyclax turned its attention from the Engine modules he was destroying to the encircling legionnaires. He lunged above the first line of shields and hurled himself into the middle of the firing leejes, clawing, biting, and crushing everyone in his path. 

He turned his attention to Templar and pounced on him. Templar raised his shield, but the cyclax was too powerful. It knocked him to the ground and was trying to claw through the shield Templar was grasping with all his strength. 

“Parachords!” Shouted Grizzly to his squad. Instantly, the whole squad got out their parachords from their webbing and attached hooks to them, getting ready to use them as whipchords. All of them got behind the great beast of the cyclax and threw their makeshift whipchords at the beast and started to pull. The hooks dig into the chinks in the cyclax’s armor and they started to pull him off of Templar. 

Their chords weren’t as strong as they needed to be, some of them started to snap as the cyclax put all his weight forward, but it was just enough time to allow Templar to grab his sword and lung into the gaping mouth of the beast. 

The rest of the chords snapped and the cyclax fell to the ground, motionless. There was a quiet SHING sound as the sword emerged between the thick armor plates that acted as the cyclax’s skin as it fell limp. 

“Can someone get me out of this thing? I’m kinda stuck.” Said Templar into his LCOM. “Also get a welding crew down here. My sword is stuck.” 

The leejes laughed as they started to heave the great monster to allow Templar to crawl out of the jaws, covered in the cyclax’s crimson blood with armor bashed and battered to hell. 

———————————————————————— 

After they rounded up the rest of the points, they held the trial. They were all found guilty, Gates especially. He had escaped when the chaos erupted and blasted any Legionnaire he saw, saying they were all good for nothing traitors. He even went so far as to arm the pirates when he could reason with them, No one in Vanguard Company had seen this side of him, though no one had stripped his power away before. 

It’s funny, if he hadn’t resisted and killed leejes, he would have been sent back to Utopion. Templar and Warden agreed that he stayed out of their way and allowed them to run the company, as long as he got all the glory. Unfortunately, due to his resistance at the end, he was found guilty of treason. 

While a welding crew worked in the back of the Engine 2 room to retrieve Templar’s sword, Spectre was commanding the firing squads in executing the treacherous points. 

Once the points had been dealt with, klaxons started sounding around the ship. “Imperial ships inbound.” Said the captain of The Endeavor over the coms. Warden and Templar looked at each other before racing off to their battle stations.


End file.
